Preparation of a coprecipitated alumina-molybdena catalyst



Patented Dec. 9, 1947 PREPARATION OF A COPRECIPITATED ALUMINA-MOLYBDENA CATALYST William H. Claussen and Homer 8. Wellman,

Berkeley, Calif., assignors, by memo assignmenis, to California Research Corporation, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application July 19, 1944, Serial No. 545,734

2Claims.

This invention pertains to the catalytic treatment of hydrocarbon distiliates, and more particularly to the composition and'method of prep- The use of molybdenum-containing catalysts,

such as moybdenum oxide supported on active charcoal, activated silica or activated alumina, has been proposed for eifecting various hydrocarbon reactions. While the best such catalysts may be satisfactorily active when first prepared, they rapidly lose activity on repeated regeneration and they are also frequently unableto withstand even the minimum of handling and attendant abrasion which is necessary in the usual commercial operation of a heterogeneous catalytic process. We have now found that if, instead of depositing the molybdenum component on the surface and in the pores of a carrier, it is combined or coprecipitated with the other ingredients which it is desired to include in the catalyst composition, a catalyst having marked superiority in activity, in length of active life and in its ability to withstand crushing and abrasion can be produced. For instance, when a molybdenum component is precipitated together with an aluminum component from an aqueous solution containing soluble compounds of these two elements and the resulting precipitate is thoroughly washed, carefully dried and properly heat treated, a compound catalyst is produced which has very superior properties,

when employed in th reforming of gasoline for the antiknock improvement thereof, and particularly in the production of substantially pure aromatic liquids from low boiling petroleum distillates.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide an improvedprocess for the treatment of low boiling hydrocarbons with an improved type of molybdenum-containing catalyst wherein a compound of that element is combined and coprecipitated with a compound of auminum and the resulting precipitate is further treated to produce a more active and more durable catalyst for use in heterogeneous hydrocarbon reactions than has heretofore been available from these elements. It is also an object to provide a method of producing this molybdenum-aluminum catalyst whereby the combinations of greatest activity and highest durability may be realized. It is a further object of our invention to provide a molybdenum-aluminum compound material of great catalytic activity and long active life which is at the same time of sufllcient purity and in such physical form as to be capable of compression into catalyst forms that are suited to practical use and have suflicient resistance to crushing and to abrasion to withstand the usual hazards of industrial service throughout the catalytically active life of the component materials.

In preparing the coprecipitated molybdenumcontaining catalysts of the present invention, w have found that the characteristics of the salts from which the molybdenum and aluminum com ponents are derived, the concentration of the soutions from which the coprecipitate is deposited, the conditions of precipitation, the method of collecting and purifying the precipitate, and the procedure employed in washing, drying, grinding, pelleting and calcining the precipitated material are all significant to the preparation of the most active and the longestlived catalysts. It has further been found that in order to realize the greatest activity and the longest cata yst life, the foregoing variables must be so correlated'as to produce a finished catalyst consisting essentially of a solid solution of molybdic oxide in gamma alumina containing relatively larger pore spaces and a crystal lattice constant of somewhat greater dimensions than is found in the catalysts of more or less similar empirical composition that have hitherto been disclosed for similar uses and prepared by depositing and supporting molybdic oxide on preformed and activated alumina.

As a source of the aluminum component we have found that aluminum chloride, either anhydrous or hydrated, aluminum acetate or aluminum nitrate may be used with about equal results. It has been found that the molybdenum component of the coprecipitated catalyst may be supplied from a solution of ammonium molybdate, (NI-102M004; '(NHOzMozOv; or ammonium heptamolybdate, (NH4)5MO'IO24, as maybe most convenient. If these ammonium salts are not available as such. an entirely satisfactory solution for use in preparing our preferred catalysts may be easily had by dissolving'either molybdic acid or molybdic anhydride in theappropriate quantity of aqueous ammonia.

Precipitation of the crude catalyst material is effected by mixing the aluminumand the molybd im m-qqntaining solutions in the proportions to ammonium dimolybdate,

give the desired percentage of molybdenum in the finished catalyst, as explained in a later paragraph, and adding to the mixture 9. solution of aqueous ammonia until precipitation is complete. The reverse order of addition may also be employed. Another satisfactory procedure is to first mix the ammonia and the molybdenum salt solutions and then to add this mixture to the aluminum chloride solution or to add the aluminum chloride solution to the mixture. When employing the solutions above described at the preferred concentrations there given, it has been found that an ammonia solution containing about to NH: is particularly suited to eilect the precipitation, though it will be appreciated that with other strengths of salt solutions either weaker or stronger ammonia solution may be preferable.

The method of precipitation of the crude catalyst material, which involves the steps of start ing with the ammonia solution in the precipitation tank, adding the liquid ammonium molybdate to said ammonia solution and, then, adding the acidic aluminum chloride solution to the resulting basic mixture of ammonia and ammonium molybdate, has distinctive advantages in connection with the manufacture of the catalyst. In carrying out the precipitation of the catalyst material in accordance with this advantageous order of procedure the desired amount of Water is first introduced to the precipitation tank or vessel, followed by the addition of thea-mmonia solution. The ammonium molybdate solution is then added to the ammonia solution in order to give a mixture of ammonium molybdate and ammonia, which will be alkaline and will have a pH above 11. Next the aluminum chloride solution is added slowly with vigorous stirring. This addition of aluminum chloride solution causes the formation of a precipitate containing the desired aluminaand molybdena components. The aluminum chloride solution is thus added until the pH of the resulting mixture has fallen from the alkaline value of the mixture of ammonia and ammonium molybdate to a value within the range from about 7.25 to about 8.0, which is still alkaline. In this manner the precipitate is formed in an alkaline environment.

It is found that when the final DH value is too low, the precipitate acquires such a consistency that it is difflcult to filter, and that when the final pH is too high, too much of the desired molybdenum compound is lost in the filtrate. Usually a final pH of about 7.25 to about 8.0 will be found satisfactory, although in actual operation the exact value will advantageously be a balance between loss of molybdenum compound due to too high a final pH and difficulty of filtering due to too low a final pH. After the final pH is reached, the mixture is stirred for to 30 minutes more without any further addition of aluminum chloride to insure complete reaction. In this manner it will be observed that the precipitate is produced and remains in an alkaline environment, that is, as the pH falls from the high value of themixture of ammonia and ammonium molybdate to the final value which is still alkaline. The resulting mixture is allowed to settle for'about 6 hours or more in order to permit the finer particles to coagulate. Thereafter the mixture is stirred again; for about 30 minutes and subjected to filtering and drying as described below.

An example of this method of precipitation is as follows: 1000 gallons of water was introduced to a Precipitation tank; 410 gallons of ammonia solution in a concentration of about 12% added thereto; 44 gallons of ammonium molybdate solution which contained 38.7 lbs. of molybdenum metal was added to the ammonia solution. The resulting solution was alkaline and had a pH of about 11.5. Next 310 gallons of aluminum chloride solution containing an equivalent of 975 pounds of anhydrous aluminum chloride was added slowly with stirring to form a precipitate until a final pH of 7.5 was reached. Precipitate was produced as the pH fell to this value and accordingly was made in an alkaline environment. The resulting mixture was allowed to stand for about 6 hours and then dried and filtered as described below.

This method of precipitation in which the precipitate is formed in an alkaline environment produces a mixture which can be more readily filtered in the subsequent filtering operation than the precipitate which is produced in an environment which is on the acid side at the beginning of the precipitating operation as, for example, when a mixture of ammonia and ammonium molybdate is added to the aluminum chloride already present in the precipitation tank. Also, a thickening or setting action during precipitation in an acid environment, particularly at a pH of about 5 to 6, is avoided.

It has been found that markedly superior results with respect to the final catalyst are obtained when the precipitation is approached from the acid side with respect to the aluminum component, as will be the case when the precipitation is from a solution of an aluminum salt of an intermediate or strong acid such as aluminum chloride. Moreover, we have also determined that the substantial absence of any alkali metal component, and particularly of a sodium component, from the molybdenum-aluminum coprecipitate is essential in order that the catalysts made therefrom may have maximum activity and maximum life. It has, for instance, been found that 0.6% of sodium oxide included in a molybdenum-aluminum' coprecipitate will reduce its activity to about 60% of that of a catalyst containing no alkaline oxide. It is thus necessary for best results to keep the sodium content, expressed as metal, below about 0.1% and preferably below 0.05% by weight of the catalyst. While this desired low sodium content may possibly be secured when precipitation is from an alkaline solution, such as the customary solution of sodium aluminate, if resort is had to long and thorough washing of the precipitate, such procedure is not only troublesome, time consuming and expensive but inefiicient in that substantial quantities of the molybdenum component will also be washed away. Precipitation from an acid solution of the appropriate salts of aluminum, utilizing ammonia as the sole alkaline reagent as already described, thus not only results in a more rapid and more convenient but also in a more economical process and a more active catalyst than has hitherto been described.

The precipitate, thus carefully prepared, and especially when the less concentrated solutions of the reacting salts are used, is a thoroughly homogeneous fiocculant mass or weak gel which is readily broken up and collected for further processing. The best evidence available from X-ray studies of the washed and calcined precipitate indicates the material to consist of a uniform solid solution of molybdenum oxide in an excess of gamma alumina. No molybdic oxide as such, that is, as a separate pure phase, is to be found in the product by X-ray examination. This fact is believed to be one of the fundamental reasons for the desirable characteristics of our preparation. In any event the coprecipitate from an acid solution, as further brought out hereinafter, yields on proper handling a catalyst which is far superior to the best hitherto disclosed molybdenum catalysts consisting of molybdenum oxide supported on an appropriate carrier. It will thus be understood that when we herein refer to the catalysts of this invention as coprecipitated" molybdenum-aluminum compositions, the term is intended to comprehend the material produced according to the method specifically set forth or its reasonable equivalent irrespective of whether it is merely a mixture of separate compounds of the two elements, a solution of the one oxide in the other or whether a definite compound can be shown to exist between them At least a suggestion of compound formation is to be found in the fact that in the preferred range of precipitation wherein the atomic ratio of aluminum to molybdenum in the precipitating solutions is between about and to 1, moderate variations in the proportions of molybdenum and aluminum result in precipitates which, when washed substantially free of soluble salts, contain a more nearly constant quantity of molybdenum than would ordinarily be expected. This apparent transitory or pseudo equilibrium composition contains between about 6 and 8% by weight of mo-- lybdenum, expressed as the element. It has been found that material of this composition is particularly well adapted to the preparation of cata- Iysts for the production of aromatics.

After precipitation is complete at the desired final pH as pointed out above, it has been found that subsequent handling is very much facilitated if the suspension is permitted to stand for a period of several hours in order to permit the finer particles to coagulate. readily collected by either filtration or decantation methods as usually employed. When decantation is used, from two to as many as five or six washings may be necessary in order that the ammonium chloride content of the finally dried product will be-sufi'iciently low to give the most serviceable material. The same result may be effected by filtration separation if the filter cake is redispersed in pure water and recollected several times. Whichever method is employed, the washing should be continued to such an extent that the product when substantially dried will invariabl contain less than 10% of ammonium chloride in order that the product may be compressed into catalyst shapes that retain a high proportion of their mechanical strength after the degree of heat treatment that is necessary to bring the catalyst to its condition of maximum activity.

In a typical instance, starting from aluminum chloride and ammonium heptamolybdate solutions the first filter cake was found to contain 87% water, 6% ammonium chloride, and 7% of the desired coprecipitate. On being dispersed in fresh water and refiltered, the cake contained about 90% water, 2% ammonium chloride. and 8% coprecipitate, and on second redispersion and collection contained 92% water, 0.6% ammonium chloride, and 7.4% coprecipitate. On a water free basis this last product will be seen to contain but 7.5% of ammonium chloride. v

The finally washed filter cake should be broken up and dried until it contains no more than about The solid may then be water. This preliminary drying step can be accomplished at any suitable temperature between about 100 and about 850 F. or above. The thus dried material is a white solid which, in contrast to some of the hard glassy gels previously disclosed may be ground to an easily pelleted powder. It will preferably contain about 74% of the molybdenum-aluminum coprecipitate and about 6% or less of ammonium chloride.

The total content of components in this preliminarily, dried product that are volatilized on calcining is extremely significant to the next succeeding step of pelletingand should always be between about 20 and 30% and preferably between 100% through mesh through mesh 34% through 200 mesh If ground substantially finer than this the pellets subsequently produced are unsatisfactory because of splitting, while coarser material is not so easily handled in the step of pellet preparation. If, however, a lubricant is added to the powder before pelleting, some additional leeway may be possible in the suitable range of powder dimensions. It has been found that a few per cent (usually between 1 and 10%) of powdered graphite, of stearic acid, of bentonite, of rosin or of a saturated high boiling hydrocarbon oil, will serve as a satisfactory lubricant, the exact material and quantity depending somewhat on the composition of the catalyst and the specific service in which it is to be used.

The dried powder containing the desired lubricant is next compressed into pellets of any desired shape, as for instance cylinders, spheres or various rectilinear shapes by means of any suit-- I able tablet or pill machine. Pellets varying from about 0.1 to 0.75 inch in their longest dimension have been found well suited for use in the hydrocarbon reactions contemplated. The pressure employed to produce the pellets should be sufficient to give good mechanical strength but not enough to produce such dense particles that their catalytic activity is materially reduced. For instance, cylindrical particles having rounded ends and a diameter of 0.187 inch have been prepared with a crushin strength well above 40 pounds as measured by subjecting them to a uniformly increasing pressure applied through a steel plunger having a diameter of 0.02 inch. However, it has been found that at higher com pressions some loss of activity may be expected. Strengths from about 6 to 25 pounds have been found quite satisfactory, with about 12 to 15 pounds being the preferred figure for catalyst particles of the foregoing range of sizes.

In testing the crushing strength of the pellet, as referred to above, it is placed with its long axis vertical between a flat horizontal supportand a plunger having a face of 0.02 inch diameter at the end of a truncated cone (for strength) affixed to the lower end of a vertically movable rod on the top of which weights are added slowly, such as shot, until the pellet breaks when crushed between the face of the plunger and the horizontal support. The total weight on the plunger when the pellet breaks is the crushing strength.

The arbitrary unit of crushing strength Just I calcining step before they are ready for use in order to remove the residual ammonium chloride The relation between the crushing Crushing Compression Strength Strength Pounds P. s. 1'.

The catalyst pellets must be subjected to a final and water. The temperature of calcining may be conveniently at about 1100 F. or above, and we have found a preferable procedure to be a slow heating of approximately three hours to reach this temperature, followed by at least two hours of constant temperature at that point. While various other procedures for calcining may be employed as conditions dictate, it has been found that the minimum satisfactory calcination requires at least three hours at 800 F. and the maximum may be for as long as 150 hours or more at temperatures as high as 1300 F.

This ability of the catalysts of our present invention to withstand lon periods of heating at high temperatures and in fact to gain in catalyst activity by reason of such treatment, with substantially no loss in mechanical strength, is one of their points of outstanding superiority over other known catalysts in this field. We have in fact adopted a standard accelerated life test that all of our catalysts must pass before being considered suitable for commercial use. This test requires that the catalyst show the same or increased activity after being held for one week (168 hours) at 1300 F. as it had before heating. Catalysts of the impregnated type wherein molybdenum oxide is supported on activated alumine. are substantially sintered and lose practically all of their catalytic activity when subjected to such treatment.

The large immediate practical advantage derived from this ability of our catalysts to withstand high temperatures is, of course, in connection with the regeneration treatment for removal of-carbon which collects on the catalyst during use. With former catalysts of the supported-typ the temperature of reburning had to be rigorously kept below about 1200 F. in order to prevent serious loss in activity of the catalyst. In order- Instead of proceeding by way of the precipitation and washing steps previously described, it

may sometimes be found desirable to effect the precipitation from substantially more concentrated solutions than those indicated as preferable and then to subject the whole mass, without any attempt at filtration, to the preliminary drying step, after which the ammonium chloride M00; on Grade Az-tivated and other impurities may be eliminated by extraction or other suitable methods of leaching. While the filtration step and the apparatus necessary therefor may thus be eliminated, the saving in apparatus is at least in part offset by the additional drying step required.

An idea of the superiority of the coprecipitated catalysts of the present invention over previously known molybdic oxide on activated alumina catalysts may be had from the data presented in the following table which were obtained in reforming the same charging stock under wholly comparable conditions:

Heat treatment of catalysts Relative Activity 1 Catalyst Treatment M00 on Grade A Activated Alumina (prepared by imprfanation).

Heated 5 hours at 900 60 F. in rur.

Heated l64 hours at 1200 F. in air.

Henti-d 331 hours at 51 i200 F. in air.

Heated 5 hours at 900 F. in air.

Alumina (prepared by 1111- pregnution) (anotizerbctch of similar preparation).

Do Heated 1'38 hours at l 1.;00 F. in air.

Fresh heated 2 hours at 75 1100 F. in air.

Heated liiR hours at i200 F. in air.

Heated 13:55 hours at i200 F. in air.

Fresh, heated 2 hours at 1100 F. in air.

Granular Coprecipitated Molybdenum-Alumina. I Do I12 Granular Coprecipituted Molybdenum-Alumina (another batch of similar preparation).

Granular Copreeipituted Molybdenum-Alumina, pelleted to tie pills.

at H)? i Relative activity is propo tional to the feed rate required to oi tam a given conversion of NO -2' 1! F. iraetion from luattlen a n crude to aromatics under a. given set of conditions.

, It will he noted that not only were the fresh coprecipitated catalysts from 25% to 65% more Comparison of catalysts Coprecipitated Supported Surface area; sq. meters per gram:

1 Fresh Catalyst (Granular)... ll7 I Fresh Catalyst pelleted 07 After 168 hrs. at 1300 F 79 5 Lattice Constant; Angstrom Units:

Fresh Catalyst 7. il2-8.09 7. an After 168 hrs. at 1300 F 7. 89 7.86 Pore diameter: Angstrom Units:

Fresh alyst 42 i5 After 168 hrs. at 1300 F. 6i Sintered Relative Activity (as defined hereinaho Fresh Catalyst 90 52 After 168 hrs. at 1300" F 4 Crushing strength; pounds Fresh Catalyst .4 12.5 5.7 After 168 hrs. at 1800 F 9.0 i. 5

While the substantially complete loss of catalytic activity by the supported catalysts is consistent with and apparently attendant upon the almost complete collapse of the catalyst pore structure, the ultimate cause of this condition. is probably to be found in a more fundamental condition which isrevealed only by an X-ray analysis. The lattice constant for gamma alumina in terms of our present apparatus is 7.86 A. This will be seen to be exactly the same as that for the supported molybdic oxide catalysts both before and after heat treatment. It is therefore apparent that the association of the molybdic oxide with the alumina is not sufficiently deep seated to alter the fundamental structural arrangement of the alumina molecules. The relationship is thus only superficial and the catalytic effect might well be expected to be more or less fugitive. On the contrary, the molybdenum compound in the coprecipitated catalysts is so tied into the fundamental arrangement of molecules as to cause a small but'real alteration in the dimensions of.

the ultimate crystal unit. Whatever the catalytic effect of such a change, it would certainly be expected to be an enduring effect.

As a further example of the remarkable utility of the catalysts of this invention, a pelleted, coprecipitated molybdenum-aluminum catalyst, prepared according to the foregoing procedure and containing 9.2% molybdenum (calculated as metal) was employed in the first catalyst stage of a two-stage process for the production of toluene from a selected fraction of California pe troleum. In this operation a distillate boiling between about 180 and 230 F. was passed over the catalyst at a temperature of about 955 F. under a pressure of 115 p. s. i. at a charging rate of about one volume of liquid per volume of catalyst per hour and in the presence of a carrier gas containing about three molecules of hydrogen per molecule of the hydrocarbon charge.

A cut boiling between 227 and 232 F. amounting to 20.5% of the charge and having an aniline point of -78 F. was recovered from the liquid reaction product.

While the utility of our novel coprecipitated molybdenum-aluminum catalyst materials has been illustrated with reference to the dehydrogenation and aromatization of a petroleum dis- Having now described and exemplified a new monium molybdate, and ammonia, the improvement which comprises slowly adding aluminum chloride to a precipitating medium constituted by an aqueous alkaline solution of ammonium molybdate and ammonia, said medium exhibiting initially a relatively high pH value, and continuing said slow addition with consequent gradual decrease in said pH value until it falls to within and not below the range of about 7.25 to about 8.0, thereby providing a readily filterable precipitate, and thereafter filtering the resulting precipitate.

2. In a process for.producing a coprecipitated catalyst material from ammonium molybdate, ammonia and a salt of aluminum selected from the group consisting of aluminum chloride, aluminum acetate, and aluminum nitrate, the iniprovement which comprises slowly adding the aluminum salt to the precipitating medium constituted by an alkaline solution of ammonium molybdate and ammonia, said medium exhibiting initially a relatively high pH value, and continuing said slow addition with consequent gradual decrease in said pH value until the latter falls to within and not below the range of about 7.25 to'about 8.0, thereby providing a readily filterable precipitate, and thereafter filtering the resulting precipitate.

WILLIAM H. CLAUSSEN. HOMER B. WELLMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Edwards et al., The Aluminum Industry, McGraw-Hill, N. Y., 1930, vol. 1, page 166. 

